Heard It Wrong

December 26, 2007

Celebrity Web sites just don't understand: That's the tune Will Smith is singing after the "I Am Legend" star was criticized over a recent quote about Adolf Hitler.

In an interview with the Scottish paper the Daily Record, Smith said: "Even Hitler didn't wake up going, 'let me do the most evil thing I can do today.' I think he woke up in the morning and using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was 'good.' "

Over the weekend, dozens of celebrity gossip Web sites posted articles about the comment, many saying that Smith believed that Hitler was a "good" person, The Associated Press reported.

In a statement Monday provided by his publicist, Smith defended himself, saying "It is an awful and disgusting lie. It speaks to the dangerous power of an ignorant person with a pen. ... Adolf Hitler was a vile, heinous vicious killer responsible for one of the greatest acts of evil committed on this planet."